Who does not really care about their sound ?

[brookdalebill]

What amp? Guessing Katana or Mustang?

this is absolute truth, and this is why I can't hardly bring myself to use anything other than a mult FX for life use - only one power supply connection and one set of I/Os to worry about

Roland Cube 80XL.
I also have an 80GX.
The XL has a looper, so I prefer it to to the newer GX.
The effects are foot switchable, but I don’t bother.
I just access them from the amp.
I never have a hassle.

 

[Tricone]

Yes. I care about great sound and tone. To my ears great sound is where it all starts. The "juice" is in the sound. Who cares how proficient a musician is if the sound/tone sucks?
I have never used effects pedals. I did have a Dr.Z Z28 4x10 and Dr.Z Z-Verb tank for years when I played electric. That was all I needed.

 

[Call Me Al]

I care about getting the pickup selection, gain staging, FX and EQ to a place where I get a pleasing sound.

But as far as climbing the ladder of pickups, amps and pedals… nope!

I find when I’m in the headphones I get in my head (pun intended) and fuss. But when I get cranking and just jam, it’s about the music, and the nuances of tone disappear. Sometimes I just prefer my vox amplug for practicing. The knobs on that thing are such a pain to reach, I just set and forget!

 

[ruger9]

I care very much about my tone, but pedals have nothing to do with it. I have amps and guitars that mate very well, that is the foundation of tone. Once in awhile I may use an overdrive to get a certain level of grit/push/drive at lower volumes, but it's still 90% the guitar and amp. I believe so much in the "guitar and amp only" formula, I do not believe in "always on" pedals. If I have to have a dirt pedal on, or an EQ, or a boost, all the time... either the guitar or the amp is wrong. My $0.02. The only "always on" gear I use besides guitar and amp is an attenuator.

Pedals are just the salt & pepper. And at home, while I have many, I don't use them alot, save for echo which I love. Pedals are not "tone", they are "colors".

Now: here's where things do a 180: in my cover band, we do songs from the 70s-90s. I need several different levels of gain, and quite a few effects to try to get the same tones from songs... the band board has an auto-wah (envelope filter), delay, chorus/rotary, phaser, harmonizer, even an acoustic simulator pedal. I also play through a Roland Cube Artist, which is a channel-switcher. So the amp gives me clean and dirty, then I have an OD pedal to add to either channel for another level of gain, so that's 4 levels. I need that if I'm going from Sultans Of Swing to Stop Draggin' My Heart around to Feel Your Love Tonight to Rebel Yell.

But even then: the amp and guitar are my base. I love the sound of my guitars through the dirty channel of the Roland. It can be fun being a chameleon for a night. I can be Steve Lukather, Mike Campbell, SRV... lol

But MY tone? As in playing at home, or if I was doing originals (which would be guitar instrumentals)? The guitar and the amp are 90% of it. Which is why I have several amps and guitars... my tele into my Swart is a different tone than my DGT into my Bad Cat or my Gretsch into my Gretsch Playboy.

But my favorite is when I'm plugged straight into an amp with reverb (tremolo is a bonus), and I can turn it up into it's sweet spot. OK I'll allow an echo too lol. I Focus more on tone from the hands (pick or fingers, where you pick, how hard/soft you pick, angle of the pick, the guitar's volume knob...) and the music. Focus on the music, the execution. As I find the RIGHT guitars and amps over time, I am becoming less gear-centric (especially pedals) and more PLAYING-centric. Some of my favorite use only a cable most of the time.... Tab Benoit, Duke Levine, Jim Campilongo, Albert Collins, BB King...

 

[Tommy Biggs]

I know a guy, he doesn't seem to care, until you hear his recordings. He's an unbelievable talent and can just plug in any guitar into almost any amp and make you think, 'wow'. TBH his rig was generally a Tele and a Twin...
He's been in my orbit for 50 years, and it influenced me a bit - I don't get too fussy about perfect tones or effects. Within reason of course!

 

[keithb7]

I used to chase certain sounds from pedals, amps, speakers etc. Its fun and enhances the electric guitar hobby.

I got into acoustic a few years ago. I mostly stopped fiddling with pedals and amps.I summarized tinkering into 1 box. My Positive Grid amp. Yet I think all that tone chasing was a lot cheaper than chasing acoustic guitars.

 

[drumtime]

At my level of playing, claiming to have a sound that's "mine" is sorta laughable. I've played gigs with a $140 guitar from Rondo, through a Roland BC60, with an old Digitech RP500 for effects. Also, same guitar & effects through a ZT Lunchbox, or a Supro. I tend to plug everything in for sound check, get it to sound loud enough for the room, and forget it. I'll step on a button or 2 during the show, and sometimes all of them. Sometimes, I leave them on, or not. I've had compliments on "my tone" from guitar players I respect on numerous occasions (along with, "You got that sound out of that thing?? regarding the lunchbox). I truly don't spend much time obsessing about it, but I do like it when everything comes together and it sounds extra special...

For me, it's way more important to be playing something that fits with the sound of the band, and keeps people dancing. I've watched shows where the lead guitar player, when he's not adjusting his hair, is fussing with his pedals and harassing the sound guy for most of the show - hardly ever getting to the actual playing of any songs. The rest of the band is left trying to fill in.

I'm sure once I clear the hurdles of low talent and lack of chops, I'll get right on the whole toan thing, though.

 

[loopfinding]

I care very much about my tone, but pedals have nothing to do with it. I have amps and guitars that mate very well, that is the foundation of tone. Once in awhile I may use an overdrive to get a certain level of grit/push/drive at lower volumes, but it's still 90% the guitar and amp. I believe so much in the "guitar and amp only" formula, I do not believe in "always on" pedals. If I have to have a dirt pedal on, or an EQ, or a boost, all the time... either the guitar or the amp is wrong. My $0.02. The only "always on" gear I use besides guitar and amp is an attenuator.

i'm not sure i agree with that. i only use one amp, one that i built and tailored for myself.

i use an always on opto compressor dialed in really subtle. it has three roles:

- give me more sustain from chords. i really like that zone where the guitar is about to feedback but it doesn't...it makes everything much livelier, like you're playing a microphonic guitar, but it's under control. works especially well with my archtop.

- act as a final limiter, so that turning on more extreme stuff like fuzzes before it will not be too different in volume from regular distortion tone.

- the output is dimed, so that when i have my volume pedal up all the way it pushes the amp into distortion by hitting it with a giant clean signal. this way i get the best signal to noise ratio from the amp, at idle it's like you can't even tell it's on.

nothing really "wrong" with the individual guitars or amp, just optimizing things that are inherently flawed about the electrification of a guitar. i just consider that pedal as an extra gain stage/input conditioner, i use it with my modeler (iridium) in the same way. if i rebuilt my amp i might just stick a solid state limiter on the input, like quilter does with their amps. but that's a lot more trouble and less flexible than just using the compressor i already have.

i will also say there's nothing inherently wrong with an always on EQ. a single tone control amp (like a tweed deluxe), basically has a flat EQ. you can almost turn it into any other amp (well, any amp that has tone controls early, after the first stage) by running the appropriate tone control in front (EQ pedal, baxandall pedal, tonestack pedal). i guess that doesn't sit right with some people, but i like that subtractive approach to EQ rather than a traditional tone stack, which starts you off at a pretty drastic mid scoop and low/high roll off.

 

[ClashCityTele]

I have about 8 pedals hooked up, but not engaged. I play clean with amp-supplied reverb. I would use the pedals more, but it is hard to stomp them from my recliner.

I've discovered how to switch on all my pedals at the same time.

 

[24 track]

If you're gonna go pedalboard, GO PEDALBOARD!

View attachment 1057542

sorry TD, but this guy is an amature , LOL



I always start with the guitar into the amp to hear the guitar then add the flavours , because as soon as you start the pedal dance it doesnot matter what guitar you have , its how you work the sound

 

[Toto'sDad]

sorry TD, but this guy is an amature , LOL



I always start with the guitar into the amp to hear the guitar then add the flavours , because as soon as you start the pedal dance it doesnot matter what guitar you have , its how you work the sound

Paraphrasing Emperor Josheph II

Too many pedals.

 

[P Thought]

I'm just a boy from Boonville, and nobody needs to worry about what I think, but I care more about notes, chords, tunes, singing, and picking than "tone". I play with the knobs on my amps now and then, but usually I leave them alone for weeks at a time. No pedals.

 

[Greenmachine]

Geez I care a lot about my tone. Like hella alot.

That said I keep it simple. Most of the time I'm playing a clean tone through an SD Seth Lover in the neck of my tele and into a clone of a '65 Deluxe Reverb.

I butter it up with a KOT, Union More boost, and or an analog delay.

 

[scottser]

My sound is achievable in a myriad of ways with pretty much any guitar or amp combination. So while I do care about it, I certainly don't worry too much about it.

 

[Blazer]

I used everything under the sun amp wise that I could afford.
- Peavey Mace and Deuce
- Marshall. I still own a JCM-900 amp and have used Valvestate and Park amps over the years.
- Hugh and Kettner
- Crate.

But in recent years I went back to the brand which made my first ever amp.

I LOVE Fender solid state amps, they have a headroom which is unlike anything I tried. It just IS the sound in my head.

My pedal board likewise doesn't have anything but the bare minimum on it.
- A wah
- An overdrive, for solos volume boost.
- A chorus
- A delay

And the most crucial: a Tuner, I wouldn't know what I'd do without it.

 

[String Tree]

I care about my Sound.
I just don't care what Many people think about it.

 

[johnny k]

I used everything under the sun amp wise that I could afford.
- Peavey Mace and Deuce
- Marshall. I still own a JCM-900 amp and have used Valvestate and Park amps over the years.
- Hugh and Kettner
- Crate.

But in recent years I went back to the brand which made my first ever amp.
View attachment 1058052
I LOVE Fender solid state amps, they have a headroom which is unlike anything I tried. It just IS the sound in my head.

My pedal board likewise doesn't have anything but the bare minimum on it.
- A wah
- An overdrive, for solos volume boost.
- A chorus
- A delay

And the most crucial: a Tuner, I wouldn't know what I'd do without it.

I have that same amp ! how you acutally put that volume this up is not my problem but they are loud

 

[Wrighty]

I am always amazed at guitar players who have a bunch of pedals. Not so long ago i was just playing with the crunch channel of my peavey bandit, and switched to a clean sound with delay which actually acts as a distortion. If i turn all the settings down and then up, i might notice a difference. Otherwise it basically sounds the same to me. I do notice it on the gain distortion channel though. I am not dissing people who can hear the difference though. I just can't.

I seriously don't hear the difference, to the point i was thinking those are just dummy settings, you can turn them up or down and it won't change a thing. Or maybe fine tuning a guitar sound is just not my thing.

I do admire people who make tasteful use of their gear though. It certainly adds a lot. I would be good with a tremolo, clean sound, delay and reverb. I don't have a tremolo pedal, but i might want to try one to get that swampy sound. Any donner tremolo pedal ?

Well at least it keeps me away from GAS. I do tend to buy stupid pedals on impulse, just to see what they sound like.

I've got four pedals on my board. I'll spend 1/2 hour setting them up before a rehearsal. I'll get close to but not 'on' the sound(s) I want. I'll move no settings. 1/2 way through the rehearsal they'll all sound crap. Next rehearsal, I'll start all over, same process. One day..............................

 

[Wrighty]

Everyone’s perception of what they hear is different. I have several different dirt pedals on my board. Honestly I don’t hear a big difference in them.
People claim they hear a difference when they change to different saddles.

Why is my perception of my volume always at odds with the rest of the band's?

 

[Blazer]

I have that same amp ! how you acutally put that volume this up is not my problem but they are loud

Yes, they sure are and that was the main complaint whenever I brought it to rehearsal “Turn that thing DOWN man!” and me going “Can't, this is as quiet as it gets.”

But the tone is just so good.